Amazon Web Services, commonly known as “AWS,” is Amazon’s cloud computing platform—and it’s taking the world by storm! AWS is the most popular cloud service provider today, far ahead of its two closest competitors, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, in market share.
Benefiting from a decade-long head start in the cloud computing space, AWS currently powers nearly half of the world’s cloud resources. Although other platforms are slowly adding capacity, it will take a long time for any significant competitor to catch up to AWS.
AWS certification designates individuals who demonstrate knowledge, skills, and abilities with AWS services. The program is built around three primary roles for engineering teams delivering cloud-based solutions: solution architect, SysOps administrator, and developer. Role-Based Certification Certification can be earned at three skill levels: Associate, Professional, and Master.
AWS certifications are designed to certify technical skills and knowledge of best practices for building secure and reliable cloud-based applications using AWS technologies. To earn an AWS certification, individuals must test their skills through Kryterion test centres in more than 100 countries and 750 test locations. Once achieved, individuals can display the AWS Certified logo on business cards and gain visibility for their AWS expertise to increase credibility.
What is the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Exam?
Passing the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam (exam code: CLF-C01) validates an individual’s fundamental understanding of the AWS cloud. In layman’s terms, this means it signals to a potential (or current) employer that you understand the basic “gist” of what Amazon Web Services is and does.
Rights:
• Recommended steps for those wishing to take the associate or speciality-level certification exam, but not a prerequisite
• Lasts 90 minutes
• Can be taken online or at the test centre
• Cost is USD 100 per attempt
• Available in English, Japanese, Korean and Simplified Chinese
• Multiple choice pass/fail test with a 70% pass rate
Although AWS recommends that candidates “have at least six months of experience with the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner in any role, including technical, managerial, sales, purchasing, or finance”, many people find that until you hit all the study points and have a solid understanding . . Exam content, you don’t need six months of experience.
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam guide
This certification lets the world know that you can define the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner and explain AWS’s fundamental global infrastructure. It also demonstrates that you can describe the AWS cloud architecture’s principles, value proposition, and security and compliance aspects. You are expected to know everyday use cases of core AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner services and be able to define billing, account management and pricing models. You should also demonstrate that you know various resources and sources of documentation and technical support, such as AWS white papers for technical documentation and how to submit support tickets.
Domain areas
There are four domains to the exam. They are:
• Cloud Concepts
• Security and Compliance
• Technology
• Billing and Pricing
Let’s take a look at each domain area!
Domain 1: Cloud Concepts (26%)
• Define the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner and its value proposition
• Identify aspects of AWS Cloud economics
• List the different cloud architecture design principles
The first exam domain is called “Cloud Concepts,” It begins with “What is cloud computing ?”
Domain 2: Security and Compliance (25%)
• Define the AWS Shared Responsibility model
• Define AWS Cloud security and compliance concepts
• Identify AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner access management capabilities
• Identify resources for security support
“Securing the Cloud” is essential to running your infrastructure on the AWS Cloud. AWS has half a dozen security-related services, such as AWS Web Application Firewall (WAF), AWS Shield, and AWS Inspector.
Domain 3: Technology (33%)
• Define methods of deploying and operating in the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
• Define the AWS global infrastructure
• Identify the core AWS services
• Identify resources for technology support
And here we are, at the most considerable portion of the certification exam: Technology. With over one-third of the questions coming from this domain area, it’s crucial to your passing the exam.
Domain 4: Billing and Pricing (16%)
• Compare and contrast the various pricing models for AWS
• Recognize the various account structures concerning AWS billing and pricing
• Identify resources available for billing support
Even though the “Billing and Pricing” domain is only 12% of the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam, the questions presented for this domain are somewhat nitty-gritty regarding the information they are asking you to recall.
AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner support plan
One thing you should know inside out is the four tiers of AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner Support Plans.
The questions related to the support plans are reasonably specific, so it’s worth the extra time to ensure you know the difference between the four.
AWS Support Plan tiers:
• Basic
• Developer
• Business
• Enterprise
As you’d expect, they all come with different perks and price points, ranging from free to “starting at” $15,000 a month. It’s important to note that these prices are purely for support—AWS resource usage is billed separately, on top of support plan costs.
The Basic Support Plan is free, but the only support is customer service for account and billing questions. For technical questions, Basic Support Plan users would have to access the AWS Community Forums to ask other AWS users, as they won’t receive any technical support from AWS directly.
Conclusion
So this blog post was relatively long, with a lot of information. You may feel a little overwhelmed right now. But if you break the exam down into domain areas and then further down into different content areas, concepts, and services, you’ll be able to create a study plan to start preparing for the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam.
Take it one step at a time, and I’m sure you’ll be able to make your way through the exam material! Each domain is essential, albeit in different percentages, and requires a lot of data.
Check our recent pass from CLF-C01
